BART workers get ridership bonus, even with fewer passengers

A BART conductor makes an announcement as passengers board the train at Daly City Station last year.

Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, Special to The Chronicle

Virtually all of BART’s 3,600 employees will get a $500 ridership bonus in their August paycheck — even though ridership is down systemwide.

BART employees have long been guaranteed bonuses of up to $1,000 under their labor contract if ridership exceeds expectations.

This year, ridership is down 3 percent from 2016. Still, the average weekday ridership total of 373,225 in what BART calls the core system — excluding some recent extensions — is 1 percent above what the agency predicted for 2017 in long-range plans that date back several years.

The upshot: Workers will get half the $1,000 bonus they received last year.

“It’s a lump sum payment called for in the contract,” BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said. “And it is based on long-term ridership projections, which we’ve exceeded.”

The only people who won’t be getting the bonus are about a dozen executive managers who report directly to BART General Manager Grace Crunican.

Crunican wants the brass to do more to make stations clean, keep homeless people away, cut crime and reduce fare evasion — problems that have brought plenty of unwelcome scrutiny to BART in recent months.

If they make progress, Trost says, they’ll get their $500.

“The idea here is that she is holding her executive managers to task,” she said.

A train stops at the Castro Valley BART station on March 17.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Chalk it up: Antiabortion demonstrators upset over the San Francisco Planning Commission’s approval of a Planned Parenthood center on Bush Street used military-like precision in protests the other day in neighborhoods where four of the commissioners live.

In each case Tuesday, four vans pulled up to the commissioners’ homes. About 50 people piled out and, using chalk, scrawled such messages as, “Life is a gift, “Stop Planned Parenthood” and “Stop killing babies” on the street and sidewalk.

Some of the graffiti called out the commissioners by name.

“I can differ with you on opinions, but you don’t have to come and terrorize my neighborhood about it — that steps over the line,” said Commissioner Dennis Richards, who was protested along with Commissioners Rich Hillis, Rodney Fong and Christine Johnson.

Richards’ neighbor Paige Grey said that when she confronted a chalker who was writing, “Dennis Richards kills babies,” on the sidewalk outside her home, the woman “got in my face about her First Amendment rights.”

“Then the main guy said, ‘In the vans — let’s go,’ and they were gone,” Grey said.

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Richards said he was upset that the protesters included teenagers and that “there were gay slurs” among the scrawled messages, including, “This car is gay” and “Richards kills gay babies.”

“They didn’t break any laws,” said Richards, who is gay. “The thing for me is, this could escalate.”

The protest was the work of a group called Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust. “We call it ‘chalk and awe,’” said organizer Jeff White.

The participants were part of an antiabortion activism boot camp being held at a local church, White said. He declined to say which church.

On Wednesday evening, the protesters returned to Richards’ neighborhood with a megaphone — and were met by the planning commissioner himself.

“I said, ‘Hey, let’s talk’ — and we did,” Richards said.

White said, “It was an open discussion, and he was very professional.” Group members also apologized for the antigay slurs, saying they were the work of a younger teen.

“I appreciated that,” Richards said of the apology, “This is what democracy is all about. One of the teens even told me they were bisexual. Wow!”

Buddy-buddy:Arnold Schwarzenegger was really enjoying himself at the cap-and-trade deal signing out at Treasure Island the other day, even spending a bit of personal time with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.

“He was concerned about the impact of the new rules against sanctuary cities on us,” Lee said. “At first I thought it was a bit strange because Arnold is a Republican, but then I remembered that he actually supported sanctuary cities when he was governor.”

The towering Terminator looming over the diminutive Lee looked like an outtake from “Twins,” the buddy movie that starred Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito.

“Yeah,” Lee replied, “I’ve been getting in shape for when we do a movie.”

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX-TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross

Whether writing about politics or personalities, Phil Matier and Andy Ross have informed and entertained readers for more than two decades about the always fascinating Bay Area and beyond. Their blend of scoops, insights and investigative reporting can be found every Sunday, Monday and Wednesday in the San Francisco Chronicle.